Earlier in October 2015, The Drum published an open letter to Women in Advertising and Communications London (WACL). The challenge? ‘Prove your worth’.
As you can imagine, this opening shot caught my attention. WACL is ultimately to the creative industry what Funny Women is to comedy. Yes, it’s meant more for women in senior roles, but also to encourage those making their way up to aim higher. I’m interested in this on two fronts.
The Drum’s post – which was, incidentally, written by a man – asked WACL to show that it makes a difference. To show that it could be more welcoming. I’ve yet to work out why nobody else has come forward and asked this before, given that WACL has been around for 93 years at this point.
The stipulation that WACL members must be in high positions does make it sound elitist, true. Membership is by invitation only, you can’t make an application yourself, but that’s something a lot of clubs do.
Members should also have at least three years of experience on the board of their company and be part of senior management. Where some of us see ‘safe pairs of hands’, other people see ‘boardroom snobs’. Never mind the fact that there are only 160-ish WACL members in total.
The word ‘women’ in any organisation for women is also apparently off-putting for an ever-decreasing minority of men. That… really shouldn’t be part of the argument against a female-focused organisation. Instead, I think that says something about the continued attitudes that SOME men have (emphasis on some), and why women’s groups of this kind are still necessary in 2015.
Accounts of people being snubbed by WACL were passed on second-hand, with generalisations rather than specific instances. Ironically, WACL’s theme for 2015 is ‘Speak Up’. And, let’s be blunt here: man or woman, if you tried to post an application you were always going to get a ‘no’. Please don’t use your ignorance of membership rules as an excuse to feel slighted.
WACL was given the opportunity to respond, via The Drum, and it was a long, considered rebuttal from president Lindsey Clay. She admitted the questions posed to WACL were legitimate ones. How do you make something that’s exclusive by design feel more inclusive to people who may not fit the criteria but still want to do their bit?
Advertising, just like comedy, is not as diverse as many people would like it to be. That’s not just in terms of gender split: adland also suffers from a noticeable lack of ethnic diversity, and it doesn’t do much to cater to creative people with disabilities. There’s a lot of work to do in a lot of areas.
While some of the challenges posed to WACL may have been non-issues, it’s been good to see the organisation step up and reiterate what it stands for. This sudden flurry of attention could work out to be good long-term publicity. And we might well see WACL push their activities up a notch to finish off the year.
